Where that meets Thursday is likely between the lines on the striped shirts. Only four teams in the NCAA field average more than the Cougars’ 21 fouls per game, and you’ll likely have an officiating crew that hasn’t worked either teams’ games this season.
So what happens? Do they blow the whistle more often? Less often?
“I’m not sure if we’re exactly the most physical team (team) in the country,” Gray said, “but I think we’re in the conversation. We have a tendency to foul a lot, one of the higher fouling teams in the country. But it’s just part of our effort and part of our nature to not back down, to box out, make hustle plays and just bring it to the competition.
“We’re definitely going to stick to our style. We’re going to try to impose our will … We don’t need to change anything now.”
To which SDSU guard Devin Watson said: “We’re definitely going to have to bring the fight to them, be aggressive, match their intensity. Yeah, it’s going to be a physical game.”